A wake up call for me was when he had to get rid of Gostisbehere and Walman due to cap reasons. Before then, I figured that the meh signings of Compher and Holl and the like weren’t really tying their hands and were just placeholders until there were better options available. Add two 40-pt defensemen to this year’s team and they likely would have finished ahead of Montreal and Columbus. But I’ve already beaten that dead horse.
So looking forward, what was sobering about the Sportsnet article, even though I already knew it, was how stark the math is about making the team better for next year.
Unlikely to be better in goal. Committed to Talbot and Mrazek. Only room for improvement next season is Cossa but even if he does get a shot (far from certain) will he play many games (maybe 15-20 at most?) and will he already much better than the vets? I haven’t give up on him as a medium term to long term potential solution (although I don’t expect him to be Vasilevsky if that’s what Yzerman was trying to replicate), but won’t be a difference maker next year for playoffs or not.
On defense, we like Seider and Edvinsson and Johansson but don’t like three we are stuck with for another year: Gustafsson, Holl, Chiarot. So barring being able to dump one of them, room to add maybe one player to have any chance of being better on defense next year?
Up front, we like Raymond, Larkin, DeBrincat and Kasper. But don’t like three we are stuck with for next season in Tarasenko, Compher and Copp. If we re-sign Kane, fine, but that’s not an upgrade or change for next season. That doesn’t leave a lot of spots. Where’s the improvement next season except from Kasper continuing to get better?
Maybe a full season of McLellan instead of Lalonde for a third of it could be worth a few points?
I’d be more optimistic for next season if Yzerman had a smart signing planned or a shake-up trade planned, but he doesn’t have a track record in Detroit of doing so.
Still looks, for now, like a 90 pt team +/- 5 points next season.
